Purpose of this Blog...

You may have noticed that not all books are equal in capturing children's imaginations and in cultivating those innocent, tender souls. My goal is to help you find the ones that do!
(Painting by Mary Cassatt: "Mrs Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren" -1888)




Thursday, March 3, 2011

A LIBRARY, A CIRCLE, A PUPPY, AND CUPCAKES IN ORANGE, CALIFORNIA

(photo by Travelin' Local)
Old Towne Orange, in Southern California, is the quintessential "Main Street USA" kind of place.  There's a town square, the "Plaza", with a traffic circle, surrounded by historic old facades (which house quaint restaurants and over 60 antique dealers), Watson's Drug Store (where scenes from the movie THAT THING YOU DO were filmed), charming arts and craft style homes, and little neighborhood churches...  
And they have a remodeled library & History Center that fits in perfectly!  The children's section is great.  I headed over there this week with my library side-kick, Sophie and her Mom. (The puppy part and cupcakes are coming up). 
This "Orange Crawl" leads into the Storytime Room
Don't worry - there's a regular door for parents!
Detail from some HUGE murals near the entrance to the children's area.

Jungle animals watch, as you pick out books!
In the center of the room is a huge computer area...
...complete with animal headphones!
Our library book picks-of-the-day (two cautionary tales):
Sophie's: THE GREAT WHITE MAN-EATING SHARK, by Margaret Mahy, hearkens back to "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in a sharky kind of way!  The Great White Man-Eating Shark: A Cautionary Tale (Picture Puffins)
Mine:  GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS by Lauren Child.  You won't believe what happens to Goldilock's little red shoes!
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Now:  on to the puppy and cupcakes...


Yes, the town of Orange is THIS CUTE!  (photo by crispyleaves.com)
The "Orange Circle" is a traffic round-about surrounding a park in the center of town - right around the corner from the library.  And "The Perfect Circle Cupcakery" was the perfect place for an after-library-treat. (We got ours "to go", but the inside of this place is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!)  Now for the puppy: Sophie's new Rottweiler, "SADIE"!

Somebody wants to go inside...

What are you looking at, Sadie??
Ohhhh...Sophie's decadent. chocolate. cupcake.

2 comments:

  1. It looks so cute! Can't wait until James is big enough to go. Also, I had no idea That Thing You Do wa filmed in Orange (best movie EVER!).

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  2. Claire - James will love going to the library with you! Regarding TTYD: I think they had to shut down the whole area for filming - they used Watson's, the Army/Navy store, and others along Glassell. It's fun to watch the movie and then go find the places! You can google images to see which store fronts.

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